This report by FIDH provides a partial summary of the main human rights violations that reported between August 5, 2019 and September 26, 2019. These violations include mass detentions, use of torture, forced labour, extrajudicial killings, prevention access to medical care, internet blockade, and the infringement of religious rights.
Topics: Mass arrests, allegations of torture by armed forces, forced labour by army personnel, several killed in protests amid severe restrictions on assemblies, Indian MPs denied access, communications shut down, journalists arrested, prayers forbidden, right to health threatened by blockade
Terms: abrogation of Article 370, arbitrary detention, violation of constitutional rights, violation of democratic rights, Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, imposition of curfew, excessive use of force, mass arrests, arbitrary detention, custodial torture, use of forced labour, extrajudicial killings, lack of freedom of speech, lack of freedom of assembly, lack of freedom of movement, informational and internet blockade, prevention of access to healthcare, violation of freedom of religion, violation of freedom of conscience
Article 370 had guaranteed ‘special status’ to J&K State since 1949 and prevented any person who did not have a state subject certificate from acquiring immovable property in J&K. The abrogation of Article 370 by the Indian government is inconsistent with earlier rulings by the Supreme Court of India, which declared that Article 370 could not be abrogated without the approval of the J&K State’s Legislative Assembly...A majority of Indian parliamentarians voted in favour of the BJP’s decision to repeal Article 370 and to pass a second piece of legislation, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, which led to the split of the existing state of J&K into two Union Territories, Ladakh and J&K, under direct control of New Delhi. This move is part of the Indian government’s plan to ensure the complete annexation of J&K, in a belief that such developments would lead to an end of the decades-long conflict.
According to a government report dated 6 September, more than 3,800 people had been detained since 5 August and about 2,600 of them had since been released. However, reports from the field suggest that a much higher number of people were detained and there reports of ongoing detentions…Many pro-India, pro-independence leaders, and civil society members have been detained under the repressive PSA. Many of those detained under the PSA have been transferred to jails outside J&K, such as Agra, Bareily, Jodhpur, Jaggad, Allahbad, Tihar, and Lucknow, making it difficult for their families to travel outside the region to meet with them.
Ongoing restrictions also had a negative impact on the local community’s right to worship. On the occasion of the Muslim festival of Eid on 12 August, authorities barred people in Srinagar and in various other districts from gathering in large numbers and allowed prayers only in small mosques in the region.
September 2019
Originally published
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